Mpetshi Perricard’s 153mph serve smashes Wimbledon record … but he still loses to Fritz

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s 153mph thunderbolt was somehow returned by Taylor Fritz and, afterwards, the Frenchman said he could go up to 15mph faster. Photograph: Daniel Hambury/EPA

Occasionally in sport you see something so stupendous you want to simultaneously gasp, laugh, and shake your head. Before asking: “Did I really just see that?”

And so to No 1 Court, where the 6ft 8in Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard sent down a 153mph thunderbolt to record the fastest serve in Wimbledon’s 145-year history – beating Taylor Dent’s record by 5mph.